Black Medicine - 1 Review

The scene is the Middle Ages. The life expectancy is somewhere around 40 years, as long as you can make it through early childhood without catching some sort of plague. Think of it, people had mid life crises' when they were 20. Strange times indeed. There also were no sewer systems, so everything smelled like human waste and life was just generally terrible for peasants. To combat all of the disease and pestilence floating around people took to herbal remedies and more often than would probably be admitted, the black arts. The thing is that what they considered the work of the devil, we consider science and an everyday occurrence.

Just picture it some schlep is looking for a way to help him stay awake, and give him an energy boost while he's toiling away at some task all day that ensures his family well being (or at least continued existence). He buys a magic potion that does just that. He thinks he's consorting with evil spirits, so this gives him a moral conundrum, but the potion works marvelously. Yeah, that guy was just drinking coffee. He more than likely could have been burned at the stake for practicing witchcraft or some such thing, simply for enjoying a few sips of liquid caffeine. Sad, strange times they were.

I don't know if this is where Black Medicine got their name, but I'd like to think it was. They certainly have one of the best labels I've ever seen. It's dark, but easily readable with nice silver lettering and some rad embossment.

I thought this was going to be cold brewed coffee, as the majority (if not all) of the fancy, pre-bottled coffees we've reviewed have been. It is in fact brewed hot (in small batches). Now neither Mike nor I are coffee experts by any means. We don't hate the stuff, but it's rare that we drink it. To me it tasted like like a strong cup of iced coffee (actually the only way I really ever drink the stuff). I had a couple of friends taste it and one said it tasted like he left his coffee in his car and drank it at a later time. My coffee snob girlfriend says it tastes old, but she says that about every bottled coffee. I will say that it tastes less bitter than any other black coffee I have drunk, so that is a plus. I actually don't mind it at all. I had expected to take a few sips and then pass it off to someone else to finish, but I've found myself hoarding the rest after they each took a sip. It looks like Black Medicine is doing something right.

Flirt with the darkness as you get your morning fix my friends.